KINGSTON, Jamaica—The People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for St Catherine East Central, Raymond Pryce, has questioned whether the buses set to be utilised under the Rural School Bus System have undergone the necessary checks by the Island Traffic Authority (ITA).

“I would invite you and others to call the Island Traffic Authority to ask them whether they have reviewed whether the retrofitted buses or the buses that were imported and upon their review, have there been any issue of certificate of fitness or says to you as a parent this bus is safe for my child,” Pryce said.

“What of the Island Traffic Authority, the rum bath aside. We saw the minister pouring what appears to be rum. The rum and the minister do not do certificate of fitness. They cannot suffice for it to be properly checked. There are policies advanced by the Jamaica Labour Party administration that prevent cut vehicles from being imported. If they have cut the other side of the bus to install a door, that point becomes a weak point in the unfortunate event should there be a collision,” Pryce said.

Additionally, he noted that recent changes to the Road Traffic Act would make the retrofitted buses unfit for the roads.

“The buses being so long cannot go around a hairpincorner such as the ones that will have to take you up from Balaclava to Roses Valley without you having to reverse. Driving a Pajero or Prado around those corners, you still have to reverse. If you are driving a left-hand vehicle, reversing in Jamaica, where we drive the left, physics and logics confirm that you would have had to put at risk somebody coming behind you driving in the left lane. It was poorly thought through,” Pryce argued.

He was responding to questions posed by a journalist during a PNP press conference on Friday as to what would happen to the recently imported school buses by the government under the Rural School Bus programme.

Meanwhile, Opposition Spokesperson on Finance Julian Robinson noted that the PNP is not against a school bus system but the move to import buses that are not suitable for Jamaican roads.

“We are not against a school bus system. What we have an issue with is importing buses that are 15 years old. That are left-hand drive. That are unsuitable for narrow, windy, hilly roads. We would like a proper school bus system so we can transport our kids safely around the country, but the buses that are imported are clearly not suitable,” Robinson said.

Opposition Senator Donna Scott Mottley noted that if the party should be elected to government, the school buses will be used in certain parts of the country.

“Clearly there are some places where it can be used. We don’t expect it to last 15 years because our situations are different. If you drive in Florida, you are not going to drop in a pothole every two minutes. We are not going to discard it because that will be a waste, and we as a party do not embrace waste. We take decisions which are well thought out and well implemented, so we would use it where it is feasible. We are just not going to endanger our children, their safety and security by sending those school buses where they are not supposed to be,” she said.